CVE-2018-9071 in Chassis Management Module
Summary
by MITRE
Lenovo Chassis Management Module (CMM) prior to version 2.0.0 allows unauthenticated users to retrieve information related to the current authentication configuration settings. Exposed settings relate to password lengths, expiration, and lockout configuration.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/13/2020
The Lenovo Chassis Management Module CMM vulnerability represents a critical information disclosure flaw that undermines the security posture of enterprise server infrastructure. This vulnerability affects versions prior to 2.0.0 of the management module, which serves as a critical component for remote server administration and monitoring. The exposed authentication configuration settings provide attackers with sensitive information about password policies that could facilitate subsequent exploitation attempts. The vulnerability resides in the authentication subsystem of the CMM, where insufficient access controls allow any unauthenticated user to query and retrieve configuration details without proper authorization.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and access control mechanisms within the CMM's web interface and API endpoints. Attackers can exploit this weakness by directly accessing specific URI paths or through crafted HTTP requests that bypass authentication requirements. The exposed configuration parameters include password length requirements, expiration policies, and account lockout mechanisms that collectively provide attackers with valuable intelligence for crafting targeted password attacks. This information disclosure creates a significant risk as it enables threat actors to tailor their credential guessing or brute force attempts based on the actual password policies in place.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability compromises the principle of least privilege and weakens the overall security architecture of managed server environments. The exposure of authentication configuration settings provides attackers with a roadmap for password-related attacks, including determining optimal attack windows based on password expiration policies and identifying potential weak points in account lockout mechanisms. Security administrators lose visibility into their authentication configurations, making it difficult to detect unauthorized access attempts or monitor for suspicious activity patterns. The vulnerability particularly affects organizations relying on Lenovo servers for critical infrastructure, where the exposed information could enable lateral movement within network environments or facilitate more sophisticated attack vectors.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-200, which describes information exposure through improper access control, and represents a clear violation of the principle of information hiding in security design. From an attack framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to the credential access phase in the MITRE ATT&CK framework, where adversaries seek to obtain credentials through information gathering techniques. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including upgrading to CMM version 2.0.0 or later, reviewing and hardening authentication configurations, and monitoring network traffic for suspicious access patterns to the affected management interfaces. Additionally, network segmentation and access control lists should be implemented to restrict access to management interfaces to authorized administrative networks only. The vulnerability highlights the importance of proper authentication design and the need for regular security assessments of management interfaces to prevent information disclosure that could enable more severe attacks.